Editor’s Note for Tuesday, April 26, 2022

My thoughts today:

Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter for $44 billion and take the social media giant private.

Crack investigative reporter — and revealer of ill-gotten gains of Chinese elite politicians — Mike Forsythe tweeted:

• Tesla’s second-biggest market in 2021 was China (after the U.S.).
• Chinese battery makers are major suppliers for Tesla’s EVs.
• After 2009, when China banned Twitter, the government there had almost no leverage over the platform.
• That may have just changed.

Musk rival Jeff Bezos responded to Forsythe’s tweet: “Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?”

It’s a question many people are asking. Tesla’s investments in China and the potential of the country’s enormous market have already given Beijing enormous leverage over Musk. And despite his willingness to say just about anything and offend just about anyone, he has never uttered a peep of criticism of China in public. For all his chutzpah, Musk has not yet demonstrated that he has any backbone when it comes to dealing with the Chinese government.

So it is indeed concerning that Musk now controls one of the biggest virtual public squares in the world.

The first test may come if Twitter adopts a so-called absolutist free speech policy and restores Donald Trump’s account. Will Twitter at the same time remove “state-affiliated media” labels from Chinese state media, and once again allow Chinese propaganda organs to amplify their messages on Twitter unfettered? And if that happens, will we consider that to be a restoration of the free speech rights of Chinese government propaganda organs, or the first sign of Musk’s sycophancy to Beijing in action?

Another concern: If Twitter goes private, what checks and balances will there be against the abuse of users’ private data? Will Musk give details of Chinese Twitter users to China’s security services if requested?

On the other hand, every move Twitter makes, with a China connection or not, is going to be scrutinized and subject to the glare of global media attention. This is fitting and also necessary.

Our word of the day is Twitter (推特 tuī tè).